


Divide

by shopfront



Category: Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Dysfunctional Relationships, F/F, First Meetings, Missing Scene, Non-Linear Narrative, Pining, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24573901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shopfront/pseuds/shopfront
Summary: The Maloja Pass is a high mountain pass in the Swiss Alps in the canton of Graubünden. It marks the divide between the Danube and Po watersheds.
Relationships: Maria Enders/Valentine
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7
Collections: Fandom 5K 2020





	Divide

**Author's Note:**

  * For [asuralucier](https://archiveofourown.org/users/asuralucier/gifts).



> Summary shamelessly cribbed from Wikipedia.

“I was surprised not to see Valentine here tonight,” Klaus said as they ventured out into the weak dawn light together.It had taken him most of the night to find his way back to Maria's side. They had been borne away in opposite directions by an excited crowd just as he was mid-congratulations for finally bringing his full vision of Helena to life, despite all their disagreements in rehearsal, and it hadn’t seemed worth it to fight back across the room just to finish one conversation.

Maria suspected that many of the people dancing and drinking had somehow found their way in un-invited, most likely in search of Jo-Ann, and while they'd lent a rather festive air to the proceedings they had also proved rather deafening. But eventually they had both become too exhausted to continue partying on with the younger cast and crew any longer, and Klaus had re-appeared at her side to ask if she had a driver waiting just as she was collecting her jacket.

Now Maria furrowed her brow as they collapsed into the back of her car together, something in her chest tugging sharply at the mention of Valentine. “Oh? I thought you already knew that she is no longer working for me.”

Klaus waggled his arm at her in a half-hearted, drunken almost-shrug. “Yes, I know, I know. But I suppose I still expected to see her. I don’t know why, except that she was the one who really convinced me that Helena and Sigrid felt the same pain. What you and Jo-Ann created together tonight… ah, it was perfect, but I might have directed you both in a very different way if it wasn’t for Valentine.”

Maria rubbed her forehead and sighed, leaning forward in her seat in an attempt to look Klaus in the eye and also avoid his flailing arm. “It’s too early in the morning for puzzles, Klaus, and unlike you I am no longer drunk enough to enjoy them. What are you talking about?”

“She never said anything?” Klaus asked, then shrugged again before Maria could answer. “I had always wanted to cast you as Helena, of course. It seemed too perfect an opportunity not to at least ask if you’d be interested. And I had been tossing a few different interpretations of the play back and forth, but when I reached out to try and speak to you it was Valentine who convinced me which would be the best one to choose if I wanted to work with you.”

Maria stared. “Valentine-”

“Convinced me that your playing Helena after playing Sigrid should be more than a publicity stunt, yes,” he continued, seemingly oblivious to Maria’s silent turmoil. “So I suppose I thought that she might be here to celebrate the birth of our creation with us. I don’t know. Maybe it was silly of me to assume.”

Falling back into her seat abruptly, like her strings had been cut, Maria stared blindly out the window.

“Maybe,” she agreed quietly, tracing her lower lip with her fingers as she watched the city waking up around them.

*

Valentine reached across the hotel breakfast table to yank the paper down as soon as Maria began to frown, folding and creasing it hopelessly until she could see the title of the article.

“Oh, that piece,” she said with a dark chuckle, her words sounding oddly pointed. “I take it you don’t approve of people sleeping with their employees?”

“I just don’t understand why it’s newsworthy,” Maria replied disdainfully as she threw the paper away with a huff, nearly toppling their discarded dishes off the edge of their table in the process. Someone at the next table over huffed back, but Maria elegantly ignored them in favour of Valentine quickly pushing a cup of coffee into her hands.

Crisis smoothly averted, Valentine tipped back in her chair to watch Maria. Her eyes were inscrutable behind her sunglasses as she sipped at her own cup, and it was too skilfully done for Maria to even consider protesting about being managed. But knowing Valentine, Maria was sure she would only be amused by Maria’s outburst if she did.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? She’s pretty, he’s stupid. She probably is using him and leading him around by his-,” she said, pausing to quirk a meaningful eyebrow in deference to their clearly all too attentive audience. “I don’t know why they’d even bother writing about it. I’m sure it’s true, it happens all the time, but it’s nothing we should care about.”

Valentine pressed her lips together so hard they were a thin line. “You have no idea who they are, do you?”

“No,” Maria said with a careless wave of her hand, then frowned. Something felt a little off-kilter between them, but she couldn’t place her finger on what it might be. “Why, should I?”

Snorting into her coffee, Valentine sat up and cracked her neck with a yawn. “Of course you don’t. Tell me then - if you’ve already accepted the story at face value - why is this so different to internet gossip? Is it just because they’ve printed it on paper? You’ll have to explain the distinction for me, because if I’m honest right now it escapes me.”

Her tone was unreadable, and that sparked something combative in Maria. Leaning forward in a futile attempt to try and meet Valentine’s hidden stare despite her glasses, Maria swept her remaining breakfast plates to the side as easily as she’d abandoned the paper.

“Yes, I do. Maybe that makes me old, but when it comes with a byline in a publication of record I give it at least slightly more credence because someone can be held accountable if it’s false,” she started indignantly. Maria could only spot that Valentine had raised a skeptical eyebrow because her sunglasses had slipped down her nose a little. But she did see it, and quickly she softened her voice before Valentine could call her out or laugh at her in public. “Though I do admit that other than that it’s hardly any better. You’re implying that they’re famous, yes? Well, so what. As if we should care about an old man openly being an idiot in love just because someone might recognise them.”

Valentine snorted again. “Alright, Sigrid.”

Maria froze, blinking rapidly. “What does that mean?”

A few different emotions crossed Valentine’s face too quickly for Maria to identify, but finally she shrugged and took off her sunglasses and shifted forward. With her elbows now up on the cleared table, their fingers tangled and their arms brushed as Valentine leaned in.

She spoke with a quiet confidence obviously meant for Maria’s ears only.“You’ve spent the last few weeks talking of almost nothing except about how you’re still Sigrid. _Only_ Sigrid. But just because you played a cruel temptress twice doesn’t mean all young women with older partners are cut from the same cloth,” she said and jerked a thumb at the paper without looking. “And it doesn’t mean you understand _her_.”

“Well of course it doesn’t, life isn’t that simple. But if you just look at them-”

“What, you don’t think they could have true feelings for each other because some tabloid headline is trying to make it sound like a sordid, exploitative scandal?” Valentine asked, her eyes never leaving Maria’s. She was so close that Maria could see all the little flecks and colours hidden in them and, distracted, it took her a moment to gather her thoughts.

“It’s not just about the headline,” Maria insisted after a beat, picking the paper up again and shaking it - only to drop it in annoyance when Valentine steadfastly refused to look away from her to see it. “She can hardly be truly attracted to _that_!”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Valentine replied with a shrug. Her eyes darted away for a second, scanning the room. Then she pulled back again, suddenly calm and nonchalant, like this wasn’t exactly the sort of thing they normally bickered endlessly over. Putting her sunglasses back on, she smirked lazily. “You’re just guessing. There’s no way for either of us to know.”

“Oh but I do know,” Maria muttered mutinously, only to sigh and change the subject when Valentine’s smirk turned down into a frown again. “Are you still happy to drive on the mountain roads today? Only the beds here are terrible, and I barely managed to get any sleep.”

*

It was Valentine’s voice that drew Maria to the waking edge of her dream. It was always Valentine lately, taking even more care than usual to be close to hand since Maria had informed her she would be seeking a divorce.

Maria smiled and stretched lazily in bed as she listened to the rise and fall of Valentine’s voice in the other room. It was pleasant to hear how confident Valentine was. If Maria wasn’t careful, she suspected she might be in danger of getting used to their new arrangement. It wasn’t quite what she’d had in mind when she’d decided to be single again. But it was nice having someone to rely on, even for the little personal things she wouldn't normally ask of an assistant.

“But I know she’ll see it as- I don’t know, destructive, maybe.”

The distant argument washed over her, only one in every few sentences audible as Valentine’s voice rose and fell in and out of her more sarcastic tones. The words were polite, but her voice was pure, unimpressed steel. It continued to tease at the sleepy edges of Maria's awareness, tempting her to go find out which poor erstwhile soul was trying and failing to pitch Valentine a project for the great Maria Enders. Whoever and whatever it was, it would most likely be good for a laugh. Not much got past Valentine these days.

It had been satisfying, watching Valentine grow so fully and vibrantly into her new role. Sometimes, Maria wondered how she’d coped with any other assistant before, so deeply did Valentine understand Maria’s desires when it came to choosing her next projects.

“No, no I don’t agree. That wouldn’t suit her at all, it would be a terrible match. Anybody could be cast for that, there’s no point- right, exactly.”

There was a definite, familiar undertone of impatience now. Laughing into her pillow to muffle the sound, Maria twisted herself around to check the clock beside her bed. It was late. Much later than she’d intended to sleep, but Valentine surely would have knocked to wake her if she was missing anything important.

Idly, she toyed with the idea of just rolling over and drifting off again. They’d only just finished a long, tiring shoot a few days before, and packing up to leave Paris - however temporarily - had been a nightmare. But curiosity and the desire to hear more of Valentine’s voice finally drew her up and out of bed when Valentine’s voice shifted further away within their suite, dashing all hopes of more eavesdropping.

Carefully, she padded over to the door and slipped on a robe while keeping her head carefully cocked to try and listen as she went.

“A seduction on both sides? Yeah, maybe. I guess that might work. I can see where your interpretation is coming from, too. I read the original ages ago, and it always struck me as much more ambiguous on paper.”

Perhaps she should knock on a wall as she passed to alert Valentine to her wakefulness. It would be polite. She only suspected and couldn’t know for sure whether Valentine was speaking with someone in a professional capacity, and it might be rude to continue eavesdropping if Maria had assumed wrong. Perhaps she was only debating film and literature with one of those ridiculous boys she occasionally picked up and dropped almost immediately while they were sequestered away on location and living in each others pockets.

But before Maria could decide whether to walk away or not, the decision was made for her.

“Have you thought about- Shit, wait, hang on,” Valentine said as she hurriedly muted the call, looking anxious. “Sorry Maria, did I wake you? Do you need anything?”

Maria blinked, surprised. Even if it was one of her boys, it wasn’t like Valentine to keep her conversations private for any reason other than courtesy.

“No, no, I’m fine. I just woke up and was going out for some air,” Maria replied as she reluctantly continued on down the hall.

Valentine nodded slowly, looking concerned. But Maria saw her shoulders relax in the reflection of the glass door as Maria turned away to open it and step out onto their tiny balcony.

She shut the door again behind her, carefully leaving it open a crack. But it made no difference in the end. Valentine returned to her call, but between the noise of the traffic and Valentine’s suddenly lowered voice. Maria could no longer make out her words.

*

The night had been a glittering, dazzling success, but Maria was bored. She’d been seated between boring people, listened to boring speeches, and come very close to firing her boring assistant who had continually failed to run interference for her throughout the evening. It was beyond her why she’d bothered purchasing an extra ticket for him, even if it was for charity, when it made not one whit of difference to her night.

She’d have been better off bringing a date, even if her husband was currently in a different country and the rumours would have been insufferable.

“It was Valentine, yes?” she asked, blithely interrupting the droning of some… she wasn’t even sure who he was she realised, other than a business man of some sort, as she turned to the young woman standing behind his shoulder.

Valentine had the constantly alert look of someone also there to work, not to socialise, though she wasn’t dressed accordingly. Clad in the same sort of sleek, dark designer gown that Maria favoured, she had already proved herself passably good at faking politeness whenever her boss wasn’t waving her away. But there was something familiar about her eyes. Maria suspected she didn’t think any more highly of their company than Maria did.

Maria had also been delighted to catch her hiding her amusement behind her hand just moments ago when the conversation had taken a turn even more spectacularly stupid than usual.

The boring man spluttered as Maria decisively cut through their little group to catch Valentine by the elbow and draw her away, but Maria paid him no heed as she asked in a loud whisper, “What do you think of the evening so far?”

Valentine laughed unreservedly, throwing her head back and sending her earrings swinging. Maria had the idle thought that they rather matched the sparkle in her eyes. “That was my boss,” she replied, though she seemed utterly unconcerned. “And I think the conversation has been a little dry.”

“A _little_ dry?” Maria echoed with an amused hum as she snagged two passing flutes of champagne from a tray and passed one to Valentine. Out of the corner of her eye she could see her own assistant all but jumping up and down for her attention a few metres away, but she ignored him. “I suppose that’s one way to put it. What do you do, Valentine?”

“I’m an intern. Studying business.”

“Ah, and do you… enjoy that?” Maria asked. Her wondering about whether she’d exchanged one dull conversation for another must have shown on her face, because Valentine was laughing again. “It must be a glamorous internship at least, if it comes with tickets to an event like this.”

Valentine snorted. “I was the one to get him the tickets,” she confessed, lips quirking. When Maria only raised her eyebrows, intrigued, Valentine continued. “My aunt’s on the organising committee. And no, I hate it. If it wasn’t for my family, I’d be doing something else.”

“Oh really? Like what?” Maria asked, intrigued. She took a sip of her champagne and smiled when Valentine blushed, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “Oh go on, you can trust me with your hidden ambitions. I’ll keep all your secrets.”

Licking her lips, Valentine took a deep breath. “Alright,” she said, rubbing her palms against her dress with a nervous smile. “You’re probably going to think I’m making this up just because I’m talking to you, but I grew up near this tiny little independent theatre that I adored. Actually, one of the first movies I saw there was one of yours, and-”

*

“I can’t believe I didn’t think of this,” Valentine castigated herself as she hurried Maria into their hotel room, anxiously surveying the empty hallway behind them before slamming the door shut. “I’m so sorry, Maria. I know you said you could teach me whatever I needed to know when you took me on, but this was such a rookie mistake and I fucked up. I should have gone out first thing before you woke up to buy something new. I’ll understand if you already want me to leave.”

“Relax, it’s fine,” Maria said, trying to soothe her. But Valentine just turned an incredulous expression her way and needlessly hurried over to draw the closed curtains together even more tightly.

“I don’t know how they even knew to find us here. There wasn’t anyone on the street when we went inside, and-”

“Paparazzi are all cockroaches. They hide away in the cracks and appear when you least want to see them. Who cares? Not me,” Maria said as she crossed the room to caress Valentine’s shoulders. But Valentine just shrugged her hands away, digging frantically in her bag for her work phone.

“At least your luggage should be here later today,” she said, making an aborted move towards the hotel phone in the other room when she came up empty. Maria considered interrupting to point out that Valentine had put her cellphone in her pocket, but stopped herself at the last second. “Someone from the airline called during your meeting to say they’d found it, I just completely forgot to mention it after I saw the crowd at the doors. I should ring down, let the hotel staff know to expect it, and-”

“Val, please. Sit,” Maria said. She caught one of Valentine’s wildly gesturing hands between hers and held on tightly this time so she couldn’t be brushed off as she tugged Valentine towards the sofa. “I chose the shirt myself, and it’s just a shirt. They’ll put some stupid picture on the internet of me looking like I don’t know how to dress myself, and that will be the end of it. It’s of no matter.”

Valentine stared at her for a long moment, heavy with silence. Then she tipped her head back against the top of the sofa and groaned, long and low, as she clapped her free hand over her eyes. “They’ll recognise the shirt, Maria. I must already be in thousands of candid shots by now, right behind you wearing that exact same shirt.”

Frowning, Maria shrugged, jostling Valentine because of how close they were sitting together. “So?”

Dropping her hand from her face again, Valentine stared at Maria. “So? They’re going to think- they’ll probably say- you know!”

Maria watched her gesture helplessly between them for a moment before the penny dropped, and then she was laughing and squeezing Valentine’s hand before finally releasing it. “Oh who cares, they put useless, untrue gossip up on the internet about celebrity relationships all the time. Nothing on there is worth paying any attention to.”

“But I’m your PA. Your _female_ PA,” Valentine said, emphasising each word carefully. She lifted her head off the sofa with a narrow-eyed stare when Maria just shrugged. “That doesn’t bother you?”

Maria just raised an eyebrow. “My big break was in Maloja Snake. Of course I don’t care,” she said, before giving Valentine a little push. “Go call downstairs, and order some food while you’re at it. Maybe a bottle of wine if they have anything decent. Oh, but no more fruit!”

Still looking a little incredulous, and a lot startled, Valentine did as she was bid. She even huffed a reluctant laugh when Maria yelled her last few words about fruit.

“Don’t worry, I won’t make the mistake of ordering you a fruit basket again after last time,” she called back, finally starting to relax as she tucked the phone receiver between her shoulder and ear and picked up a room service menu.

*

“I offered you this job on a whim, you know,” Maria mused aloud, flinging her hand up towards the ceiling for flourish and then swearing when the ash from her cigarette went flying. Once she’d finally finished patting down the bedcovers clumsily to try to smother any stray embers, she realised Valentine was just watching her, laying perfectly still on the other side of the bed.

“I’m well aware, thanks,” she said when Maria pulled a face at her. Her voice was carefully blank, her expression betrayed nothing.

“Oh no, no, I don’t mean that as a bad thing,” Maria hurried to reassure her, pausing only to impatiently stub out the cigarette before she actually set something alight. She’d already had far too much to drink for the bother of smoking safely indoors. “You’re wonderful. I mean, you’ve been wonderful. That’s what I mean, I offered you it on a whim and you’ve been wonderful at it. It's been so long that I have basically forgotten what it was like to have incompetent assistants; I don't know what I would do without you, now. And it’s not like I had any sense of how to train you or, or- you’ve just done it, brilliantly, all on your own.“

Valentine reached out, her fingers brushing the curve of Maria’s cheek and the corner of her mouth; the touch stilled Maria into silence. Then she pulled back as if burned, red blooming across her cheeks deep enough to be visible even in the darkness of their unlit hotel room.

“Fuck, sorry,” she said, biting her lower lip as she recoiled further, but Maria just cackled and fell back against the bed.

“We’ve had far too much to drink,” Maria said. “And I was never surprised that you are wonderful,to be clear. But I am always impressed. I know I don’t say it enough, but you should know that I am.”

Still chuckling, she flung her arms and legs out and stretched luxuriously, ignoring how her limbs encroached where Valentine already was and the clunk of an empty bottle being knocked off onto the floor.

“Don't apologise,” she continued quietly after a moment, letting her head loll to the side until she could see Valentine. Valentine was still watching Maria, not shifting away from where they were now pressed together; her eyes were fixed intently on Maria’s face. “You asked me for something real when I hired you. Don’t go back on that desire now. I won’t tolerate it.”

*

Maria stumbled, nearly falling in her desperate rush as she reached the crest of the path. Her throat already burned, rubbed raw by her sudden panic, but she continued yelling for Val regardless. At least until she rounded the bend and nearly tripped over Valentine curled up on the ground, stumbling past her a little way before she managed to stop her momentum.

“Where are you- oh! Fuck, Val, you scared me! What are you doing down there?”

“Watching for the snake,” Valentine replied. Her words were stiff and stilted, and Maria could see her hands clenched into fists where she’d rested them on her knees.

Maria’s mouth worked silently for a moment as she traced her steps back until she could safely step down the incline beside Valentine, careful not to accidentally collide with her again in the process. It took a moment to find a spot where she wouldn’t just slide down the slope, but eventually she managed to squeeze onto a small bit of flat grass beside Valentine.

“The view isn’t as good from here,” she said slowly, trying and failing to find an angle that might rival the vista she’d been watching only moments ago. Something that might explain why Valentine was here and not there; why she’d ignore Maria calling for her. “Why don’t you come back over there with me, it’s much-”

Valentine made a noise of disgust, cutting Maria short as she rocketed to her feet and brushed off her pants. “Forget this, I’m going back.”

“No, Val, wait. Where are you going?” Maria asked desperately as she scrambled to her feet as well and tried to reach for Valentine, though her hands continually caught nothing but air. Valentine was already picking up speed, pulling away from her. “I think the snake is really forming now. Come and see, come and watch it with me.”

Valentine gave an abrupt, choked scream and doubled over, her hands like claws in her own hair. Maria stumbled to a stop, bewildered and unsure.

“Val-”

“I can’t do this,” Valentine muttered at the ground, looking up at Maria through a curtain of hair. It suddenly occurred to Maria that she looked desperate, cornered. “Do you hear me, Maria? I can’t do this anymore. I’ve had enough.”

“Can’t do what? I don’t understand,” Maria replied with a huff. “Just tell me what’s wrong, and-”

Fast, far too fast for Maria to follow, Valentine straightened up and darted forward. It was only her hands on Maria’s arms that kept Maria steady as she pulled back in surprise, and only her weight that kept Maria anchored as Valentine dragged her forward and into a desperate kiss.

It was as hard and aggressive as her sudden anger, yet it was no quick, brutal collision of mouths. Valentine immediately loosened her grip and ran her hands up Maria’s arms. She tugged her closer with gentle fingers on Maria’s neck, running them through her hair when it was too short to get a grip on. Deftly, she worked her way into Maria’s mouth with both tongue and lips, and a surety that Maria would not have expected of her.

In that moment, the only coherent thought Maria could form was that she was being devoured. Like Valentine was desperate for something Maria couldn’t name. Then just as Maria began to crumble and return the kiss, Valentine tore herself free again.

They stood apart, panting, for a long time. Vaguely, Maria noticed that the clouds were beginning to roll past not too far beyond them, but she dismissed them as unimportant.

“I didn’t know,” Maria finally said haltingly.

Valentine’s laugh was bitter. “Of course you did.”

Silently, Maria opened her mouth - then closed it again, defeated. The ground beneath her feet felt even more treacherous than the mountainside that it was, and she couldn’t figure out where to step next to find her way back to safety. When she didn’t respond, Valentine sighed and dragged a hand down her face before raking her fingers through her hair and sighing again. Maria’s fingers twitched as she fought the urge to step forward and tidy it for her, to comfort her.

“Seriously, I can’t do this” Valentine repeated, before lowering her voice to a barely audible mutter as she gathered up her things. “I don’t know what I expected, anyway.”

The fear that something would be irrevocably broken if Maria didn’t find the right words gripped her, squeezing something painfully tight in her chest. “Wait! We can fix this, Val. I promise, we can fix this.”

But Valentine was still backing away, nearing the path again now and shaking her head. “I thought maybe I could try to just be your assistant again, but I can’t. And you never change,” she said, her voice flat. “You never, ever change. I won’t be the Helena to your Sigrid, Maria. I want more than that.”

Gaping, Maria watched Valentine finally turn to leave - and even as she watched her go, Maria continued to silently struggle and fail to find the right words to bring her back.

*

The note came with flowers the next day, borne in amongst all the other bouquets in the arms of her assistant. Maria watched out of the corner of her eye as she carefully lined the vases up around Maria’s untouched fruit basket in the corner, and fought the urge to knock them down again like a petty child.

She hesitated over the last bunch though, before turning towards Maria. “Oh, and there’s some here from Valentine. I wasn’t sure if you’d want them, but-”

“Put them over here,” Maria said immediately, her heart suddenly in her throat as she gestured wildly towards the coffee table in front of her and put down her newest script. She’d been trying and failing to finish it all morning, the words seemingly disappearing one after another as she read them. Like wisps of cloud on the breeze.

Her assistant said something else as she put down the flowers and backed away, but Maria couldn’t hear the words over the pounding of her heartbeat. Distracted, Maria waved her away. She only barely heard the door close moments later as she unfolded the note with shaking hands.

_Looked like maybe you found something not to hate in Helena after all. You were wonderful. V_

“She was there,” Maria whispered, raising her fingers to her lips as she read the note again.

Flipping it over, she searched for more words but there was nothing to find. Hands still shaking, she fumbled for her phone and scrolled to the end of her contacts - only to hesitate, her finger hovering above the name Valentine.

*

“I can pay you well, but it still won’t be enough to provide for the sort of lifestyle you’re used to here with your family,” Maria said flippantly, unsure of whether she wanted Valentine to be more interested or less because of the money.

But Valentine just met her gaze head on, shoulders back. “I don’t need the money.”

“It won’t be prestigious, either. No meeting _intense_ movie stars everyday or spending your weekends on red carpets. Just a lot of hard work, long hours, and dealing with difficult people.” She paused heavily again, waiting for Valentine’s interest to wander without the promise of Hollywood lights.

“You’re pretty intense yourself, you know,” Valentine replied instead, momentarily disarming Maria. She ducked her head and bit her lip, looking up at Maria through her eyelashes; suddenly, briefly, soft instead of strong. “It’s always been my favourite thing about your work, actually - and I don’t care about prestige. I’ve had plenty of that in my life already. What I want is to make something real, and I think we might be able to work well together to achieve that.”

Maria scoffed loudly before she could stop herself. Valentine’s eyes widened a little but the creases of her eyes only deepened further with amusement, her mouth twitching like she was trying to smother laughter. It seemed a shame not to hear it. Maria was already growing to like the sound of it.

“I don’t know why you’re telling me that. You want to be an assistant to an actress to make something real? If you want real you should go join a soup kitchen or become a teacher or something,” Maria said, still not sure why she was trying to discourage her from taking the job.

Valentine just tilted her head wordlessly towards the rest of the room beyond the cozy little corner they’d gravitated into. Turning to look, Maria took in the sweeping ballgowns, the dancers spinning across the floor as chandeliers glistened and cast their light down on tray after tray of similarly sparkling glasses of champagne. The crowd was finally beginning to thin, but none of the splendour had yet to leave with it.

It was as bright, and as shallow, as any empty set that Maria had ever worked on.

“Perhaps I see your point. But only a little,” Maria admitted reluctantly.

Valentine’s answering laugh was wry and rough, and her smile had twisted by the time Maria turned back. It was such a small change on her face, yet one that spoke of disappointment and frustration; the subtlety of its bitterness made Maria want to snatch it up and lock it away to use in her next performance, if only she could frame a moment like a portrait and bring it back out for later study.

“So you’ll hire me as your assistant?” Valentine asked.

For a moment, Maria allowed herself to consider whether Valentine could sense weakness. She'd eagerly pressed forward a step as soon as she had Maria's attention again, until Maria was enveloped in a cloud of her perfume and could all but feel the warmth of her body as it almost but not quite pressed up against Maria’s.As she hesitated, Maria’s eyes flickered down for just a moment - and those red-bitten lips that had drawn her gaze curved upwards at the corners once more.

“Yes. Yes, I suppose I could do that.”


End file.
